Sangamon CVE-26
Background History Launched as a ''T3 Oil tanker ''on November of 1939, Sangamon was obtained by the US Navy in October of 1940, and was refitted as an escort carrier by August 1942. She still had substantial oil bunkerage which allowed her to perform double duty as both a carrier and mobile fleet refueler for nearby destroyers. She was taken out of action by Kamikaze in the Battle off Samar, and was ultimately scrapped in Osaka, Japan in 1960. Overview The USS Sangamon was an american aircraft carrier featured in the game. She will be the first carrier unlocked given that you havent bought the junyo or akagi by then. Tactics Given sangamons smaller air wing (only 20 aircraft without flags) and longer reloads with the weakest planes of the bunch, players should use her conservatively. This if further encouraged by it's low HP count and speed. The best way to use her is in conjunction with other carriers. While their planes provide cover for yours, send your planes on a bombing run as their Bombs have damage that can even give top tier carriers a run for their money while torpedo damage is very weak in comparison. In fact, without ANY upgrades, Sangamon’s bombs deal 26k damage. If 2 waves are rapidly launched and all hit, a ship with less than 260k hp will just die. And don’t forget flooding. Playing a Sangamon When playing a sangamon prioritize your survival first. Your low speed and HP often leads to you becoming a free kill in most cases. That does nothing to help your teammates other than put more mental pressure on them. After you have retreated to a safe zone, start to support allies with your AP bombs. They will often deal massive damage on impact and considering how most players often neglect upgrading their AA this oversight can be exploited. If your air wing goes down to around 10 planes or so stop using bombers and instead opt for long range torpedo strikes to make them last as long as possible. If you are playing online battles, choose maps with islands and avoid ones like GREEN HILLS where you are easy prey. Choose a suitable island and hide behind it. Wait for enemy ships to approach you, and unleash all hell upon them. Because they’re so close to you, your planes will hit more often as the enemy ship can’t turn away in time and they lose huge swathes of HP. In the meantime, use torpedo squadrons to harass enemies. Playing with a Sangamon If there is a sangamon on your team, just leave it be. Most likely the player will know what he is doing as carriers in general require the highest skill ceiling to play and as such those who dare to use them are often the cream of the crop. Your primary job if you are not a ship of the line is to provide cover fire for the carrier as destroyers can easily destroy sangamon courtesy of its lack of secondary guns. Playing against sangamon If ever given the chance to, kill the Sangamon as quickly as possible by any means necessary. its low speed and HP often leads it to being a free kill and by doing so you eliminate the potential threat of high damage AP bombs being delivered to your ships deck.